White Doll Lamentation
by wildcomets
Summary: Nioh was feared and disliked by many for being a Trickster. They also hated why he never turned back and responded whenever they called him. However, when he did, why did he break down? And who was the person he was repeatedly apologising too? [OneShot]


Author's Note: Plot compliments to Eien-chwan (author name: Eien no Kaze). She planned out this plot, I wrote the story...cos apparently to her, I can write some scary fiction. Er...yeah. Short fiction, cos I'm gonna make it...a bang (evil) I like to incorporate music into writing, hence the parts. Not that much of a horror...more eerie, I think.

**WHITE DOLL LAMENTATION**

A Nioh Masaharu Tale where Curses lurk from behind...

_**Prelude**_: He who never responds

It was a known fact that Nioh Masaharu, third year student of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku, was a delinquent student, and a mastermind. His intelligent mind was focused on bringing others down with his pranks, giving him the alias of the Trickster. However, people have said that his poor manners also contributed to his negative status. What did they mean by poor manners? He had and elegant way of speech. His calm, cool exterior only hid an even calmer, cooler evil. However, what annoyed everyone the most, was what had been occurring recently, that he never responded once he walks away. All who have called his name, were ignored like they never existed in the first place. Not even teachers can waver his gait. Not even his captain, not even his strict vice captain, can make him turn.

Not a word. No movement from his head. He looked onwards. He walked onwards.

_**First Movement**_: He who could not respond

"I tried telling him that we had a meeting after practice today, but he didn't turn his head at all, that prick." Marui Bunta, third year student of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku, remarked to his junior, Kirihara Akaya, a second year student. Kirihara raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"This isn't the first time...why does he never respond, Marui-senpai?" He asked his senior. Marui shrugged as his blew a large bubble from his apple flavoured bubble gum, and then let it pop before he answered.

"Who knows, but it's getting annoying. Especially when I have to say something important...but he just walks away as fast as he can..."

"Marui-senpai, why don't you just physically force him to stop and turn around next time?"

"Are you nuts! That guy is bigger than me! You'll hafta do it with me." Marui smirked. Kirihara rolled his eyes. It seemed he couldn't get out of this one.

---

"Keep your eye on the ball!" Sanada Genichiroh, vice-captain of the Rikkai tennis club, commanded the club members as they practiced in their allotted practice schedule. Nioh, as usual, was devising some plan to crack his opponent and make him crumble to his defeat. As usual, he succeeded. He left his defeated opponent, crushed, and went to the next one. Marui and Kirihara watched as the Trickster defeated the non-regulars of the club one by one, leaving them all with their minds detrimentally wounded from their unforgiving defeats.

"He leaves no room for hope." Marui commented as he shook his head. "I never remembered him being this...this...ruthless."

"Maybe that's why he never responds, maybe something happened." Kirihara questioned.

"Who knows, let's ask him later...that is, if he does pay attention to us."

---

"Oi, Nioh. Tell us, what's going on?" Marui asked, as he and Kirihara approached him as he was leaving the school grounds. They were already standing at the gate, waiting for him. Nioh shook his head.

"Fu, nothing. Why do you ask?" He replied arrogantly. Marui growled.

"You're getting nastier by the minute, that's why we're asking." He walked towards Nioh. "And to do that, you're either really crooked in the inside, or you've got issues. We hope it's the latter."

"I don't have time for this." And Nioh started to walk away. He walked passed Kirihara, and walked onwards. Marui threw his bag down onto the ground in anger.

"Nioh! Don't you walk away! I was only wanting a proper conversation!" Marui stormed after Nioh. "Nioh! Respond when someone's calling out to you!" He continued to storm after Nioh. Kirihara, on the other hand, has noticed something unusual. Each time Marui called out Nioh's name, he winced once. It was slight and almost unnoticable, but it was there. And each time his name was called out, the wince grew more obvious.

"Nioh-senpai!" Kirihara cried. Then he watched Nioh's reaction. There it was. A slight wince. Kirihara's eyes followed the silver haired third year suspiciously, before turning to his red-haired companion. "Marui-senpai, maybe you shouldn't call him anymore, there's something weird going on - " He was ignored. And too late. For Marui had stormed straight up to Nioh and spun him around, just so they can look face to face. However, Nioh's eyes were fixed behind his shorter friend. Marui then noticed Nioh's expression.

"Nioh...are you okay...?" Marui shook his teammate. Nioh's face was drained, his eyes wide with horror, glazed with fear. He slowly wrapped his arms around himself, and crouched down, shivering, as if to hide. Marui looked at him with the widened eyes of fear. "Nioh! What's wrong!" He saw Nioh's mouth move open and close, soft murmurs heard. Marui listened closely...and then he heard the words coming, quivering out of Nioh's mouth, in Nioh's voice.

"I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry...I didn't know...I didn't know..."

**_Second Movement_**: She who turned.

It was like any normal school morning. Nioh was going to the cafe to get some coffee, after he had to pick up some books from a shop, when he bumped into her. She was a student of Seigaku, a first year. Nioh remembered seeing her somewhere before. She had long brown hair, tied into two pigtails, falling past her knees. And she recognised him.

"Ni-Nioh Masaharu!" She exclaimed, surprised by his appearance. It must have been strange to see someone from Rikkai Dai in her region. Nioh shrugged.

"Hai. Who are you? You look really familiar..."

"Ryuuzaki Sakuno...from Seigaku..."

"Ryuuzaki?" Nioh questioned. "Isn't that their tennis club's coach?"

"H-hai...I'm her granddaughter..." Sakuno answered. Nioh clicked his tongue in realisation.

"NOW I remember!" He pointed at her with the hand he was holding his coffee with. "You're always at the matches! You're part of their cheering squad or something? And you're always cheering for whatshemahcallit...Echizen Ryoma..."

"I'm sorry, I must go now..." Sakuno turned to leave. Nioh raised an eyebrow...was she late for class? But it was still early...he should be worried about being late for class, he has to track back all the way back to school...

"Hey, just tell me a few things before you go, Ryuuzaki-chan..." No reply. She just kept on walking, onwards, not responding. Nioh frowned. For such a young girl, she was certainly very rude. She didn't look it either. "Oi! Ryuuzaki-chan! Do you here me!" Once again, no response. However, something caught Nioh's highly observant eye. She winced each time he cried out her name. Nioh ran up to her, and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, only causing her to jump away in fright. "Oi."

"Ha-hai, Ni-Nioh-kun...?" He eyes were still fixed before her.

"How come you never replied...you know that's very rude. Girls these days, they're getting ruder as they come..."

"I can't turn around..."

"Na-ni?"

"If I turn around...something horrible will happen..."

"Huh...?" This was very strange indeed. "Are you off your rocker or something?"

"I had a dream...a nightmare...and a voice cried out to me...he told me '_...don't look behind you...or I will suffer...don't look behind you...or you will suffer the consequences...if you look behind you...we'll both be cursed for eternity...don't be tempted by those who call out to you...and tell you to turn around...for those who call out to you will suffer so too..._'...that's what he told me..." Sakuno answered, her voice quivering with fear, tears streaming down her small, pale face. Nioh scoffed.

"Ryuuzaki-chan! It's only a dream! We all get nightmares all the time...in fact, I have done something like your dream to others before as a prank. None of them fell for it." Sakuno remained unconvinced of his words. Nioh rolled his eyes. "Look, they said those who called out to you will get cursed too, right? Well, I'll prove once and for all that you AND I will not get cursed by your dream...now, you keep looking forward, I'll walk behind you, and when I call out, you turn around."

"Bu-but..."

"Just do it." He walked behind her. "Ryuuzaki-chan!" She didn't turn, but she winced. "Ryuuzaki-chan!"

"They're all calling out to me...telling me to turn..."_ They? _Nioh looked around...from what he noticed, only _he_ was calling out to her. He frowned, and walked up to her again.

"Ryuuzaki-chan, there's nothing wrong...just turn around. I assure you, there's nothing wrong..." Nioh said softly, afraid that the girl might be suffering from some mental disorder.

"I-I can't..." Then she slowly turned. "But you said there was nothing wrong..." Her eyes were closed.

"Open your eyes, Ryuuzaki-chan..." Nioh said. Sakuno slowly opened her eyes.

"You said...there was nothing wrong - " She was cut short. Her eyes were wide in horror. Her hands couldn't stop shaking, and she clenched her fists so hard to the point where her nails dug into her skin and blood dripped down to the ground. She pointed ahead of her, and screamed. Nioh instinctively covered his ears and winced in pain, as the scream that came from Sakuno was the most high pitched, most horrible, most fearful, most bloodcurdling scream he has ever heard. He looked at where she was pointing at. Nothing. There was nothing out of the ordinary. He watched Sakuno collapse to her knees, her skin ghastly pale as if her blood was leaving her. She fell forward into his arms. "You said there was nothing wrong..." she repeated. "...it was so horribly...you said there was nothing wrong...why did it become like this...you said there was nothing wrong..."

"Ryuuzaki-chan..." However, his words were lost on her. She kept chanting the same thing over and over again. "Ryuuzaki-chan! Do you hear me?"

"Why did you tell me to turn around...?" And her eyes closed. Her body was limp. Her body was cold. And it shriveled in his arms, her face, her hands, her skin distorted, down to the point where it was as thin and as fragile as paper, and it crumbled into sand in his hands, and disappeared with the wind. Nioh looked at his arms. This could not be happening to him. A girl just died, and deteriorated in his arms in a matter of seconds, when this process was meant to take decades or centuries. He looked around him. Surely the people would have seen it happen. The people in the cafe! They would have seen the whole thing! That scream Sakuno left was enough to make anyone turn. Nioh ran back into the cafe.

"Ano...did you see the girl, the girl I was with?" He asked a waitress. The waitress looked at him, puzzled.

"I'm sorry...but you weren't with any girl...you were just standing there, gazing into the distance...(you looked quite handsome doing that too, I must add)..." Nioh ignored that last remark, only the first part of what she said was what he focused on.

"Wait...you said I was alone...but didn't you see the girl? The girl with long brown hair tied into pigtails, she even let out the most horrible scream!" He cried out. The waitress slowly backed away from him, nervous.

"There was no girl, and there was no scream either...if there was, not only would I have heard it, so would have everyone else on this street...this is a VERY busy street...now if you may excuse me, I have to finish off some orders..." and she left him standing there, dumbfounded, on his own. Nioh swore under his breath, and was about to punch the wall, when a quiet voice called out to him...it was her voice. Sakuno's voice.

"_...don't look behind you...or I will suffer...don't look behind you...or you will suffer the consequences...if you look behind you...we'll both be cursed for eternity...don't be tempted by those who call out to you...and tell you to turn around...for those who call out to you will suffer so too..._"

_**Third Movement**_: He who responded

Nioh looked before him. She was there. She was looking at him. He didn't see anything but her silhouette and the glint of her eyes. His surroundings were dark...he remembered it was only the afternoon, how did it become so dark? Not only was it dark, the sky was crimson, crimson with the dark red of blood.

"_Why did you turn, Nioh-kun...?_" She said. "_You made a mistake before...do you want to do it again...make me suffer...? You will suffer too...you...and they would too...they who called out to you..._" Her voice. It was her. Ryuuzaki Sakuno...but didn't she disappear in his arms? He watched as her silhouette grew larger as she stepped closer to him, the faint light from nowhere reflected off her, slowly revealing her features. It was her. Was. There, in front of him. She still had her long brown hair, tied into pigtails. But the ends of her hair were spilt, her hair dried, dull, lifeless. Her skin was deathly white, flaking, scarred, cuts all over, grazed, the scars on her hands from her nails digging in were still there, her nails encrusted with the blood from the skin they scarred. Her irises had closed up and lost their pupils, her eyes now blind, bloodshot. And now he knew why she was so pale, why it seemed that her blood was drained from her. Every opening from her body, a trail of dried blood was there. From here eyes, down her face, from her mouth, down to her chin. Blood trails everywhere, marked their paths all over her body, all over her flaking deathly pale skin. She was broken. Broken like a discarded porcelain doll. Nioh felt her come closer, and he held himself in defence, his arms around him, and he crouched down, shivering.

"_Nioh-kun...why did you make me turn...? You said there was nothing wrong..._" She asked again.

"I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry...I didn't know...I didn't know..." Nioh repeated, hoping that she would stop coming closer. "I said I'm sorry! Ryuuzaki-chan! Sakuno! I didn't know, I should have believed you..."

"_I am suffering, Nioh-kun...I am blind. I can see only the last thing that was engraved into my mind, repeated again and again...and it will happen to you...and soon...it will happen to them..._"

**_Fourth Movement_**: They who called out to him

"I said I'm sorry! Ryuuzaki-chan! Sakuno! I didn't know, I should have believed you..." Nioh muttered, still shivering, still in his crouching position, whimpering, hugging and rubbing his knees in fear. Marui and Kirihara looked at him. They looked at what he was looking at. Nothing. Nothing was there.

"Nioh! What the hell is going on!" Marui demanded. No response. He could not hear him. He was lost to them. He fell to his knees, and headed forward straight into Marui's arms, Kirihara running straight towards them, to help his fallen senior. Marui was puzzled. "Strange...he's not joking about this...his pulse is weak, his temperature is cold...unless he took something to make him like this to trick us...but that'll mean he's at a university level to have such knowledge..." Marui turned to Kirihara "Akaya...did he say 'Ryuuzaki Sakuno'?"

"Yeah...he did..."

"She sounds really familiar..." Marui murmured while cradling Nioh in his arms. Kirihara froze with realisation.

"Wait...Ryuuzaki Sakuno...wasn't she that student from Seigaku? The one who disappeared months ago, what was it...she was last seen walking to school or something...and after weeks of searching...the police pronounced her dead..."

---

"_Why do we always listen to them...they who call out to us...they, with their sweet words, always saying they care, always saying nothing is wrong...they who bring us down...whenever they call out...they hurt us...they never cared...and so you must suffer...and so will they..._"

"What on earth are you on about!" Nioh cried out. He began to feel the blood drain out of him.

"_Our downfall, is always because of them..._"

_**Finale**_: White Doll Lamentation

"Nioh...do you hear us...?" That voice sounded oddly familiar. What was his name again...Marui...Bunta...?

"Nioh-senpai...are you okay!" Kirihara...Akaya...? That's right...he was never allowed to turn. They made him turn. They caused him to fall...

"Why..." he rasped "...did you make me turn...?"

"Because you didn't answer us! Enough of that, what the hell is going on! Are you okay!" Marui cried out.

"I'm not allowed to turn..."

"Screw 'I'm not allowed to turn', what you need now is to be in a hospital!" Kirihara interrupted.

"Those who call out are those who bring us down...you should have never made me turn..." And then darkness fell, and he could not see anymore. He felt his blood drain from him, he felt himself drying up and shrivelling, just like Ryuuzaki Sakuno. The last words he heard where Marui calling out to him, telling him to come back, and Kirihara asking his red haired senior who he was talking to. It was time for him to leave. It was time for his last words to the one who made him turn.

"_...don't look behind you...or I will suffer...don't look behind you...or you will suffer the consequences...if you look behind you...we'll both be cursed for eternity...don't be tempted by those who call out to you...and tell you to turn around...for those who call out to you will suffer so too..._"

The last words he said. And then the last thing he saw was a white doll with long brown hair, tied into pigtails. A broken white porcelain doll, cracked and bleeding. Just like him.

- - - fin.

AN: Okaaaaay, if that was scary, don't kill me. If that was weak, don't kill me. If that didn't make any sense...then good, it wasn't meant to. XD I have a lot apologising to do to Bun-chan...TT I STILL LOVE YOU...


End file.
